Hmm.

so much depends upon

a red wheel barrow

glazed with rain water

beside the white chickens.

I was 18, just out of high school and in college for my English Lit major. (yah- I went and got two degrees?! Who wouldva thunk?)

In class after the professor read this poem, as we read along with it, I thought to myself. "This is terribly stupid."   

I was into reading Victorian literature (what a girl) and I snobbily looked down on most forms of poetry, unless of course it was Billy Shakes and his oh so loving sonnets...

look- I was young.

But back to the story-

As I thought to myself that this was simply the dumbest poem in history something occured that didn't quite happen that often- I started paying attention.

The professor at the time broke this poem down word by word, and little by little my heart lightened and my mind opened. This "stupid," poem now was the center of my thinking, and eventually the one poem that I always resort back to in my mind.  Anytime I wanted to impress someone with my knowledge of someone else's pen- I talked about this poem particularly.

You see I have this "thing," about me. When I really enjoy something whether it be a chocolate bar, a rock, dancing, or this poem- I want other people to get the same enjoyment out of it as well. Its almost like I want to tell them all about it to see the estatic reaction that I assume they would have. And when I don't get that reaction out of someone its almost as if I want to force them to like it. Sometimes this entails beating someone into submission with a sneaker but that doesn't happen that often. (kidding.......really.)

Example:

I always danced. Since I was a four year old I have been on the dance floor. I grew up in dance shoes and I loved every second of it. Later when I was in college I took some ballroom lessons and I was hooked. I begged the owner of the studio to let me work there even if it meant just sweeping floors and he gave me a chance. I later went on to compete in the New England circuit for seven years placing first in swing, and smooth. By teaching the thing that I loved most at the time, helped me to get other people to love it as well. When you have a deep passion for a subject and pass that passion on to someone else it gives you such a high. 

But that passion got taken away from me from a serious car wreck. I could drawl on about that but I'd rather not bore you to tears, and it was a good thing. I would not be who I am, or where I am if it wasn't from that "beautiful collision." Anyone catch my drift on that phrase? If not I encourage you to look it up<3

Anyways, the reason why I am posting this poem is for you to enjoy its simplistic meaning. And also because I now (after eleven years) I enjoy the signifigance of this poem on a daily basis. 

So much depends upon a red wheelbarrow (red= color of life and heart and love. wheel barrow= work, toil and earth. Notice that wheel and barrow are seperate? Don't reinvent the wheel, its perfect the way it is:) )

Glazed with rain water (Glazed meaning its cold representing the seasons. Rain and water= weather and the importance of water for life. Life being the red wheelbarrow. Back to Red=life, love, heart and wheelbarrow = dirt, clay, earth)

beside the white chicken (white= new, pure, as snow. Clean. Chicken= food provided in form of flesh, and the egg=ing birth and newity. Feed on the flesh it is provided for you. The chicken is dependent on what comes out of the red wheelbarrow and the water that will quench its thirst.)

Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear.  For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.  Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?    “Consider how the lillies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith!  And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it.  For the world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them.  But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.     “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

"My friends call me "Whiskers," cause I'm curious like a cat..."

Here's our lil shorty......ok, ok, bad attempt at sounding cool and unique.
Here's our little buddy boy (much better)
Coming in, early again, to eat his fill!

This night was de-wormer spiked chicken that apparently tasted great. The little bugger grabbed as much chicken as he could in his mouth and would take it off the porch to eat it. When he was done with his fill, he came back for more. As I sat there handing him pieces of chicken he would tuck them into the back of his mouth and wait for the next. When the chicken was just about falling out and he could stuff no more, he ran and ate them. Only to promptly return for more.  A behavior I hadn't seen in him before.

Side note; I was on the phone with my StepMom when he came trotting over. I was just getting done talking about how he comes at the same time every night when "trot, trot, trot," up he comes. When I asked her what time it was she told me- "9:55."
Our little boy is appreciative of tea time being on time.

Side story;

Last night was the first night in awhile that we weren't gonna be home around ten p.m. (Should I be admitting that?) Any ways, I left some canned cat food out in his dish and we put it on the steps. It began pouring- his food got soaked and by the time we got home we could see that the wet cat food became to wet to eat. Especially now for such a proper fox.  So - we drained it the best we could and let it be. (I secretly went to bed thinking that the only reason why Ash didn't show is that he had a previous dinner arrangement that he felt would be rude to cancel on) (hey- it helped me to sleep)
So our beautiful sister came home at 1 a.m. and she told us she saw Ash. When we got the story from her this morning I was much warmed.....
It appears that he was in the driveway- sitting when she pulled in. When she got out of her car he came trotting up to her. He then followed her all the way to the back steps where his dish was. She sat. And so did he. He waited for her to give him some food and when she drew her hand over to his dish (which was right next to them full of the wet, wet cat food, he ate.

So cool.

Subtitles should be read.

Bad news first-

I'm miffed for lack of a better term.

Not mad, not angry but just eh-

at the bee's.

Now see I went in there tonight and upset them a great deal. I moved stuff around. Opened the first brood box and took out frames. And its August. Wrong time to do it- but it needed to be done.

The bee's give me a roller coaster of emotions. For the past three days they have been coming in HEAVY with pollen! Hooray! Thats a sure sign that babies are being born-  I was elated. All THREE HIVES were bringing in pollen.

So tonight I go in to feed them with high hopes that I will see a gazillion babies.... And as I get down to the main brood box- nothing. Shcotamoe. I saw some swarm cells (queen babies) so I left them.  Second guessing my every move. And ever so reluctant.

Moving onto the Carniolans (second hive) the first one was so peeved at me that I could hardly do a thing. And it was getting dark. Boo hiss I went into the house and called my Mom.....

Telling her the story and telling her how dissapointed I was and feeling like  failure in bee charming, she lifted up my spirits- she told me in only a way a Mother can, "Lauren, Let Mother Nature do what it does."

sigh*

I feel better.

On a brighter note: The new chickens have "been installed." Meaning, we waited until it was dark and then put the "Roving Gang of Betties, (as a whole)," into the hive, er I mean coop. We put a bunch of them on the roost where they did what any sweet young chicken would do- they cuddle up to the two bullies, and David Ortiz who doesn't like to be touched. That was def a run on sentence but I'm too lazy to fix it and too honest to let you know, that I really don't know how.

Anyways- they are cute but David made a really good point. "The Roving Gang od Betties, (as a whole)," need subtitles. The four Golden ones are aptly named; Blanche, Sophia, Dorothy, and Rose. The seven darker ones will be named; The Unity. Because they are dark and united.

On another brighter note- Ash came up to the porch as I wrote this. 9:55 pm. He was five minutes early tonight.  He ate his three hotdogs tonight and looked into the door and hung out on the porch all by himself.


I don't know if I'll ever get used to having a fox for company.

The New Betties have Arrived!

These gals will now be known as "The Roving Gang of Betties! (as a whole)"

You know, you really are... fantastic.

"Basically, there's three grabbers, three taggers, five twig runners, and a player at Whackbat. Center tagger lights a pine cone and chucks it over the basket and the whack-batter tries to hit the cedar stick off the cross rock. Then the twig runners dash back and forth until the pine cone burns out and the umpire calls hotbox. Finally, you count up however many score-downs it adds up to and divide that by nine."

"Got it."

Ash came by for his first round of treatments. The Ivermectin will wipe out any worm, parasite or lice that the little bugger might have on or in him.  This here makes me feel good.

I have been learning alot about foxes in the past couple days. Alot of reading and videos make me fall in love with the speicies even more. If you know my husband and I well you will know that our favorite movie (which we watch weekly) is Fantastic Mr. Fox.

We saw it in theaters, on a whim, when it first came out.  We had no idea what the movie was about but when it was over we wanted to stay in the theater and watch it again.  It embraces our sense of humor and look on life situations.  Mr Fox, has and always will remind me of my husband.......There has been times where I thought he was mimicking the character Mr. Fox- but only to realize he wasn't.

So, to have a little fox show up on our doorstep and not leave, just feels all to right.  (I encourage you to watch the movie to see how Ash got his name:) )

One thing that I had found interesting about our little boy was that when he approached us he seemed to let the air out of his lungs.  He wasn't wheezing persay, but almost like a push of air out of his mouth.  He would do this as he climbed up the stairs and then as he grabbed his food. Come to find out this is a sort of greeting- here's a video to back it up and show what he was doing: (not actually our fox-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__aX9OQDMYo

I'm hoping that his trend continues as he grows more comfortable with us. I assure you that our intention is to not disrupt his wild animal life- but to instead give him a fighting chance.  In the way I see it - he found us- and came back each night. We provide food for him, and it is up to him if he wants it or not.  He provides us sweet company. He is a young kit, and I am sure that his familia was killed outside our driveway a month before he appeared. In all the terrible things we do to mother nature I see this as a form of debt being repaid. The more I learn the more I love and the more I love this animal the more I see the Beauty of God, and His creations.

"Its a triple header."

"All creatures of our God and King."

<3

Chicken- check
Cat food for when we are not here- check
hotdogs- check
lime (sp) to kill an mite eggs who fall off onto the ground- check
Ivermectin- check
Hand sanitizer-  check
Calendar marking the dates of proclaimed treatments- check

Operation: "Fix Ash," is on like Donkey Kong.

"What's with the cape? Why the pants tucked into the tube socks?"

So as I have previously posted - we now have a "pet," fox.

It started one month ago today. We were having our weekly prayer group meeting at our house. The guys were outside sitting in the yard while us ladies were chatting it up in the house. Around 9 David comes into the house saying "there is a fox hanging around."

It seems as if he fearlessly come trotting up and stumbled upon David and his friend sitting in the yard. Knowing that foxes "like," chickens David got up and started yelling at it to scare it off- he ran but came right back. By the time the us girls came out side, this little fox was hanging around near our porch and looking oh so cute. I had grabbed some hotdogs so David started feeding him.

This little guy came around ten each night. Not a night went by that he wasn't there. Whether we were outside or just coming home around that time, he would be there. Each night whether we saw him or not I left out a chunk of meat or a hotdog, and by morning it would be gone. (Please see previous post about the chickens too) He was beautiful- big bushy tail, big ears, big red eyes, big white teeth, and I had melted.

He took to David first. Coming up to him and just being wary of me. Throwing him food he got closer and closer until last Thursday- he ate a chunk of steak out of David's hand (previous post) Since this last Thursday he has eaten out of our hands each night, and has started to lose his fear of us. My parents are here this week and as we sit on the porch at night, he comes trotting up and patiently waits as one of us goes inside to get his handout on the steps. Last night was his big breakthrough- he sat on the porch and waiting for each piece of meat instead of running off after he took a chunk. He just stayed there.....

Now last night we could really see that his big bushy tail was barely there- and that his black book were scabby and not too good looking. Looking it up we found out that he has mange and this could be devastating to his health.  A fox left untreated could be dead in four months. As I have mentioned before- God gave me a soft heart for soft things, and as this little guy comes around my Fantastic Mr. Fox ( David) has grown a soft heart for him too. I am an avid animal lover, and have cared for wild animals before. I am not going into this without any lack of knowledge, or understanding of wild animals.

Today we are heading to Tractor Supply ( the coolest place ) to get some treatments for him. It will be an injection that we can inject into his food and treat him over the course of six weeks.

The more he comes into my mind the more I look up about these animals and more I learn the more I love.  I know that it is not suggested to feed wild animals, and domesticate them, but we are looking to be kind to one of God's beautiful creatures that obviously needs a little love. My game plan is to not have the fox living in our house by any means ( and I feel that I need to say that to anyone who might be reading this from that Peta, Sarah McLachlan company who will pull a nutty) But our objective is to remain friendly with a creature who has been remaining friendly with us.  Its nice company at ten each night to see his big red eyes look at us and quietly chomping on what he's trusting us to give him. For anyone who knows us- Fantastic Mr. Fox is our favorite movie. If you haven't seen it I highly suggest you do, but bring your weird sense of humor with you. So having a little fox in our company, is pretty cool.....

More to follow ( of course) and as always ask away any question:)